CORNACEAE 



Flowering Dogwood 



Cornus florida L. 



HABIT. A shrub or small tree rarely 40 feet high and 1 foot 

 in diameter; bushy, fiat crown; a valuable ornamental. 



LEAVES. Opposite; simple; deciduous; 3-6 inches long; oval; 

 entire; thick; arcuately veined; hairy; bright green above, paler 

 beneath; turning scarlet in autumn. 



FLOWERS. Perfect; small; in heads; the heads surrounded 

 by 4 showy, petal-like, notched, white or pink bracts (red in 

 variety rubra West.); appearing with leaves. 



FRUIT. An ovoid, scarlet drupe Vi inch long; in clusters of 

 3-4; flesh bitter; containing a 2-celled pit. 



TWIGS. Slender; glaucous; green or purplish. Winter buds: 

 terminal present, Vq inch long, narrow-conical, acute, covered 

 with 2 valvate scales; terminal flower buds subglobose, gray. 



BARK. Thin; dark red-brown; broken into small, square 

 blocks. 



WOOD. Moderately important; very heavy and hard; fine- 

 textured; diffuse-porous; in demand for shuttles. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Very tolerant; moist sites as 

 "understory" species; slow-growing; lateral roots. 



* * * 

 Pacific Dogwood 



Cornus nuttallii Aud. 



This small, handsome tree of the Pacific Coast is very similar 

 to flowering dogwood in its appearance and diff'ers from it in 

 the following ways: petal-like flower bracts not notched; often 

 producing a second crop of flowers in later summer; bark re- 

 maining smooth on trunk. 



* * * 



Three other of the 16 species of dogwood native to North 

 America while typically shrubs may form small trees. These 

 are the alternate-leaf dogwood, C. alter nijolia L., and the rough- 

 leaf dogwood, C. drummondii Meyer, of the eastern United States 

 and the western dogwood, C. occidentalis Cov. in the Northwest. 



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